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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 1996)
P age A2_________________________________________________________________________ ________ __ _______________________ N ovember 13, 1996 • T he P ori land O bserver J Attention Readers! Please lake a minute Io send us your comments. We’re always trying to give you a better paper and we can’t do it without your help. 1 ell us what you like and what needs improvement... any suggestions are welcomed and appreciated. We take criticism well! Get your powerful pens out NOW and address your letters to: Editor. Reader Response. I'.O. Box 313?, Portland, OH 9^Q&. (The ^Jnrtlanù (ßbseruer (USPS 959-680) Established in 1970 Charles Washington Publisher A Editor Mark Washington Distribution Manager Gary Ann Taylor Business Manager Sean Cruz Consultant A Editor Portland Observador Danny Bell Advertising Sales Manager Gary Washington Public Relations Paul Neufeldt Production A Design Rovonne Black Business Assistant Contributing Writers: Professor M cKinley Burt, Lee Perlman, Pamela Jordan Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily Reflect Or Represent The View's O f • (Elje ^Jortlaxth © bseruer / n January 7, 1 9 9 5 , Rev erend Jesse Jackson and the N ational Rainbow Coalition struck the first blow of resistan ce to the brand-new Gingrich Congress. Think back to those heady days for the right-wing extremists: Presi dent Clinton was in retreat; the media was in the thrall o f the new leader o f the House. New, Gingrich, who had ridden a supposed tidal wave o f right- w in g support into pow er. Progressives were despondent. Dem ocrats were depressed, and the Con tract On America was Newt’s blue print for a conservative counter-rev olution. Jesse Jackson at that point did what he always does--he fought back. The Rainbow called a meeting o f our progressive allies to plan our resis tance—N O W , labor, students, the NEA.environmentalists.church lead ers, Latino activists, gay and lesbian groups, Asian and Native American Leaders. In the midst of progressive de spair, the Rainbow released a state- home men, which expressed our refusal to go quietly into that dark night: “ This season o f hostility and re treat from American values w ill be short-lived and resisted B e ve come together this weekend, we ’ve gath ered, we vecaucused, we ve listened to each other.... JFe 've discussed leg islative, legal, grassroots, electoral, public education and media strate gies. “ We have analyzed the Republi can contract At its core, it is a state ment to Americans that—in the new global economy—they are on their own. “At a tune when corporations are tearing up the old contract to pro- vide secure jobs, with decent wages, health care and pensions: at a time when A merican workers need a level playingfield, and watch as corpora tions ship jo b s rather than goods abroad: at a time when the economy is growing, but wages are declining, and poverty and hunger are spread ing—rad ica l conservatives say gov ernment can do little but give more tax breaks to the corporations and the wealthiest Am ericans “ This is not acceptable, and w ill be resisted. . Let us begin by target ing 50 Congressional districts—and organize to register people to vote, educate them on what their vote means, and mobilize them to vote. I f each o f us act in a coordinatedfash ion, we can make certain that radical conservatives experience the term limits they prom ised but w ill not pass . “There was no tidal wave: it was that our walls were low. Fast forward to 11/96. Thanks to the work o f all our allies, president Clinton has been re-elected, the first Democrat since F D R to win the honor. The Contract On Am erica has been torn up by the voters, and the ch ief contractor spent the last 3 months o f the election in hiding. And though Newt G ingrich did manage to cling to his majority by a very slim vote in 10 toss-up districts, his margin o f control has been cut in half, his mandate has been repealed, and the voters have told the right- w ing extrem ists to behave like adults. While we did not get all the way home on Tuesday, we did fight back hard enough to get part- way there. L.et us never forget that. Partial victo ries count, too. 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, Oregon 97211 503-288-0033 • Fax 503-288-0015 Email: Pdxobserv@aol.com r Deadline for all submitted materials: More steps beyond the net Articles:Friday, 5 :0 0 p m Ads: Monday, ¡2:00pm s we wind up this “NET and Cyberspace” series (for now), I am gratified to see th a t a number of parents and students remember th a t I was out there early on with some valuable information which oth ers are only now revealing. POSTMASTER: Send Address Changes To: Portland Observer, P.O. Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208. Second Class postage p a id at Portland, Oregon Subscriptions: $30.00 per year The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manu scripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and w ill be returned ifaccompanied by a self addressed envelope. A ll created design display ads become the sole property o f the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage without the written consent o f the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition o f such ad. © 1996 T H E P O R T L A N D O B S E R V E R A L L R IG H T S R E S E R V E D , R E P R O D U C T IO N IN W H O L E O R IN P A R T W IT H O U T P E R M IS S IO N IS P R O H IB IT E D . The Portland O bserver-O regon’s Oldest Multicultural Publica- t ion—is a member o f the National Newspaper Association-Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc, New Yo rk, N Y , and The West Coast Black Publishers Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver. SUBSCRIBE TO ^ l o r t l a n ò ( P b e e r t ic r The Portland Observer can be sent directly to your home for only $30.00 per year. Please fill out. enclose check or money order, and mail to: Si BS( RIP I IONS T he P or i land O bserver ; PO B ox 3137 P o r u and , O regon 97208 Name: Address: C ity, State: Zip-Code: T hank Yot F or R eading T he P orti . and O bserver Reform or repeal? Letter to the Editor: The Congressional Welfare “ Re form" B ill signed into law by Pres ident Clinton is really Welfare re peal. The bill wipes out the 6 1 year old safety net o f federal aid to adults and children left behind by the cap italist system The feds w ill now send a few dollars, with rio mandate that they be used for welfare bene fits, to financially strapped states that may or may not use the money fairly and wisely. Meanwhile the real welfare queens, multi-national corporations, make o ff with billions o f tax dollars through loopholes, subsidies and giveaways. The bill pushes millions o f wom en with small children into subsi dized minimum wage jobs so far below the poverty level that they’d still qualify for food stamps if the bill didn't cut them o ff after three months. In Oregon, for example, the “Jobs Plus" Program w ill pick up the tab for minimum wages, so cial security, unemployment insur ance, and Workers’ Compensation premiums for six months. The em ployer gets free labor and is not obligated to move tty: person to an unsubsidized jo b when the six months ends. He could simply re place that person with another free worker. This appalling creation o f an un skilled, subsidized work force has nothing to do with “ Personal Re sponsibility and Work Opportuni ty” as the b ill’s title states. It is union-busting, intended to under cut organized labor Welfare recip ients are temporarily unemployed workers who seldom need assis tance for more than a couple o f years. Unions should jo in them in demanding an end to the corporate welfare state and to protest this sham. Welfare funding should be used for genuine job,raining, education pro grams and childcare, so welfare re cipients can apply for living wage jo b s when they re-enter the workforce. Add the Welfare B ill to the list o f anti-worker legislation brought to us by the Democrats and Republi cans, who already gave us N A F T A and G A T T . It's time for all workers and our unions to join the newly formed Labor Party and fight back against the twin parties o f big busi ness. Sincerely, M arjorie Sandoz Oregon Athletic Club Letter to the Editor: Hope all is going well for you; I can definitely see your touch in the Observer! Though I'm sure you're not a bit short o f news or features, I've come across something that may be o f interest, particularly to East Portland Oregon Athletic Club, virtually across the street from Madison High School has a very interesting back ground as well as being extremely valuable to young athletes today. It is home to Cobra Wrestling and draws hopefuls to its annual camp from all over the U .S. I, also has one o f the three larges, indoor swim ming pools in Oregon and is often used by local youth swim teams for practice and coaching The owner, Marc Sprague (ph: 254-5546) is very accessible and has had the club f o r about 25 years. I In the same vein, a reader remem bers that “about 12 years ago you did a program on channel 12 featuring the ‘Empire Style o f Furniture- de scribed in las, week’s article - Jackie Kennedy installed it in the Red Room at the White House. And you displayed an ‘Empire Style ’ chair that had been sent over by the furniture department o f the Meier and Frank store. We were for tunate enough to get a copy o f the tape from the station and now show it to our grandchildren (and neigh bors).” T h is African style o f furniture and dress that Napoleon’s Egyptian ex pedition brought back to europe was paralleled in its impact on the world by the Scientific and mathematical knowledge recovered—A second ‘re naissance’ : projective geometry, the “golden section” , Fibonacci series, geometric city planning, astronomy, etc. (see Tompkins, “Secrets o f the Great Pyramids", Harper & Row). In the particular case o f the “em pire Style' furniture (the same as later found in K in g T u t’s Tom b), Nopoleon's expedition crew (loot ers) which included scientists, as tronomers, mathematicians, artists and surveyors, also brought back s p e c 4000 year-old examples o f African tools and technology-specifically, the wood-turning lathe and the mor tise and tenon joint. Illustrations o f the Egyptian technology may be seen in editions of. Furniture In The Mod- ern world.” I am taking more space than planned for this segment but had a much larger response than expected —e sp e cially from the Bend and Ashland areas where I have had loyal readers since the 1970’s when I did Black History workshops there as part o f the U .S. Fores, Service mul ticultural programs. Some o f the schools and curriculums in these ar eas are further advanced than Port- land’s-to the surprise o f many. Let me give several other citations for general interest or for those pre paring lesson plans, “The New Ency clo p e d ia o f Furn itu re ” , Joseph Aronson, Crown, 1967; “ The Art o f Furniture: 5000 years o f Furniture and In te rio rs,” O le W anscher, Reinhold. 1988. This latter book has photographs o f the advanced A fri can designs we call “modern”-fo ld - ing chairs, chaise lounges, intricate cabinetry, woven seats, gold leaf overlay, ivory inlay, etc., most 5000 years old (Tut Exhibit). t i And we find this relevant com ment on page 7 of, Egypt the Black Land, Pau! Jordan, E .P Dutton, 1976'. “ In encumbering his forces with this body o f serious scholars, Napoleon was harnessing the aims o f the late eighteenth century philoso phers and scientists... who wanted to rationalize all human knowledge” (and expand the new Louvre Muse um). It would be appropriate at this point to comment on wha, I referred to several weeks ago as “problem area” in my attempts to get an ad vanced technology into the Portland system. In this case Benson High School, and then later O M SI. I still could shed tears of exaspera tion as I examine here my files from an 8/22/85 presentation to a Benson staff o f a principal, two vice principals and a Desegregation Specialist'. This project was different from my 15 year-old computer/terminals on line system I still was trying to ge, the superintendent’s or curriculum offices to try. Since Benson was a vocational or technical high school it occurred to me that the alleged “ lack o f motivation and other learning prob lems ofblack students” might well be addressed by introducing learning models structured around document ed evidence ofblack contribution to technology from day one (e.g. the African manufacture). In addition I had gotten the local manufacturer o f flood gauges and other stream measuring devices to furnish such devices for demonstra- V tion to students-along with compa ny manuals and illustrations to the effect that these instruments such as the nilometer were “ invented by A f ricans along the Nile River thou sands o f years ago... some, almost in original form, used today by the U.S. Corp. ofEngineers, Bonneville Pow er, and operators of dams, canals and waterworks around the world.” Several o f the devices lent them selves to modeling in a high school shop, according to the manufacturer and I had persuaded the U .S. Forest Service to purchase some o f any pro duction. Well, every one grinned and congratulated me on a “masterful presentation" and advised, “sounds good, we’ll get back to you” (is i, racism or fear?). Let us see. That was at 10:00 A .M ., 8/22/85. It is now 1:30 P.M., 11/8/ 96. Have you heard from these, peo ple. I haven’t. However, I later got two African American Benson stu dents involved in a summer intern, health technology program that I designed and implemented at provi dence Medical Center. I ran out o f money and time before I got a full-blown program going as with the medical program I brought to Portland State University in 1974, but that was H .E.W . funded. I ’ve got a good learning curve going now with some alternatives to broad-based community support for my designs in education and technology. This is a tough community, per haps concentrating more on other cultures w ill help. Ideas? Texaco, racism and affirmative action by B ernice P ow ell J ackson he recen t revelations about Texaco Oil Com pany employees make the case for the continuing need for affirmative action. Although that was far from the intent o f those involved. It seems that a secretly taped conversation revealed racist language and illegal behavior regarding a Federal lawsuit brought by minority employees o f Texaco. Like the Rodney K in g videotape, these tapes show racism in America duringthose unguarded moments that prove for people o f color what we had known all along. A s California voters went to the polls and voted for Proposition 209, to end affirmative action programs in the state o f California, they were faced with the news story which showed Texaco upper echelon em ployees shredding documents which would have implicated their compa ny in the suit brought by some 1,500 minority employees o f that compa ny. These em ployees charge that Texaco systematically discriminates against its minority employees and that the company fosters an atmo sphere o f racial hostility. In tapes which they did not realize were being made, the former treasurer o f the company, along with other high-lev el employees, call African Am eri can s “ b la c k je lly beans” and “niggers," proving that behind many closed doors o f corporate America, racism is still acceptable behavior. The suit by minority employees o f Texaco contends that they were sys tematically passed over for promo tions in favor o f less experienced whites. In the secret tapes, one offi cial says, “This diversity thing, you know, how all the black je lly beans agree.” Another official agrees, add ing, “that’s funny. A ll the black je lly beans seem to be glued to the bottom o f the bag.” The suit also charges that Texaco fostered a racially hostile environ ment, saying that they were called “uppity” for asking questions and charging that black employees were cal led "orangutans’ and “porch mon keys.” At least one African Am eri can Texaco employee, upon hearing the tapes, said, “ It sounds like a Kian meeting, and nobody seemed to ob ject to what everybody was saying.” That may be one o f the most trou bling aspects o f this case — that no one else in the room objected to such racist language and to racist and ille gal behavior. But it is important to note that Texaco is not alone in al lowing such language and attitudes to exist in the workplace. While oth er corporations might not have got ten caught, there are many minority employees who have had sim ilar ex periences in other companies. Which is exactly the reason why affirmative action is still needed. Despite arguments to the contrary, people o f color and women are still underrepresented in corporate board rooms and work rooms. Women and people o f color still hit that imagi nary glass ceiling in every industry and still find it difficult to start and operate their own businesses. Unfortunately, too many Am eri cans have fallen for the line that we don’t need affirmative action any longer. Too many have believed that quick fixes have cured 500 years o f discrimination and racism. Too many have been w illing to listen to the stories o f white men who have claim to have lost contracts or jobs without listening to the thousands o f people o f color who have been and continue to be discriminated against in the workplace. Maybe these Texaco tapes w ill be a wake-up call for us all. Because those o f us in states other than C a li fornia can expect that attacks on af firmative action w ill soon be playing in our own communities. United ways makes progress through media Letter to the Editor The goal this year for your local United Way is to raise more than the $19.2 m illion we raised last year. With the assistance o f donors and volunteers, I believe we can achieve this goal Thanks to the efforts of Portland Observer, United Way is getting its message out into the community Be cause o f your involvement, your read ers are more familiar with us than they may have been before. We've been able to show the community how its donations can make a difference in many lives. When everyone gives through United Way, more individu als and families can be helped. The dollars raised support 170 programs, including Mainstream / Youth Program, Inc., Which pro vides treatment and education for alcohol- and drug- related problems; Bradley-Angle House’s Emergency Shelter Program, offering women and children short-term shelter from abuse, support, and a 24-hour crisis line; The Salvation Arm y Rose Cen ter for Seniors, which encourages senior adults to be active in the com- munity; and many more. Thank you for your continued sup port and for all you have done to help change people’s lives. As always, we’ll do our very best to make sure every dollar you give counts and goes where it’s needed most. Sincerely, RichardL. Woolworth, 1996 United Way Cam paign Chairm an
